Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Our Best Friend

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs17:17).

Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus with a kiss, and did so for thirty pieces of silver. Nevertheless, a theory being advanced today portrays Judas as Jesus’ friend. It alleges he simply carried out Jesus’ wishes. With a friend like Judas, who needs an enemy?We seldom, if ever, meet anyone named Judas, but we may encounter a “Judas” nonetheless.

In her prime Rita was a vivacious celebrity in the entertainment industry. Her success brought her plenty of money and friends. An extremely generous person, Rita hosted elaborate parties, donated sizable sums to charity, and treated her friends to breakfast buffets and lunches at a five-star hotel.

Now in her eighties Rita, who never married, is experiencing rapidly declining health. She is too weak to leave home. Her mind is no longer sharp. Her memory is almost gone, and her speech is often incoherent. Because she has no living relatives, she depends entirely upon others to care for her. However, most of her friends dropped out of her life when she became too ill to lavish money on them.

Today, Rita has very little money. A former friend—a “Judas”—whom she trusted with her credit cards and bank accounts, bilked her out of $285,000. This “friend” almost stole Rita’s home out from under her, but a true-blue friend uncovered the fraud and hired a lawyer to protect Rita’s interests.

Rita misses the former social times, but she values the few friends that truly care about her. Most important, Rita is a believer. In her halting way, she talks about how good her best friend Jesus is. She knows He is a trustworthy and constant companion,

As we age, we need to depend upon others for things we routinely handled in our younger years. However, we should not be deceived by a phony smile into committing our financial affairs to a swindler. No one wants to distrust everyone, but we must choose our friends wisely. True friends care about us, not our possessions. And we will never have a better friend than Jesus!